July 2020 heatwave: heat across much of Spain, 26 July – 2 August 2020

26 July 2020 to 2 August 2020. Updated 26 October 2026.

AEMET records a heatwave from 25 July to 2 August 2020.

Over 8 days, 100 of Spain's 182 warning zones had an orange or red warning for heat: 242 zone-days at orange or red, 4 of them red. The day with the most zones at orange or red was 30 July, with 47 zones.

1 August was the day with the most people in zones under an orange or red warning: 18.9 million people live there (INE municipal register, 2025).

RedOrangeYellowNo warningEach zone at the highest warning it had during the episode. Grey: no warning on those days.

True-colour satellite image of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands on 30 July 2020 — Spain from space on 30 July 2020, the day with the most zones at orange or red. Image: NASA Worldview.

How it compares

It is number 11 of 119 episodes since June 2018 by zone-days at orange or red.
Among the 37 heat episodes, it is number 9.
There hadn't been a heat episode this widespread since August 2018.

Day by day

Day	Red	Orange	Yellow	Orange or red warnings for
Sun 26 July	—	32	42	heat
Mon 27 July	—	47	56	heat
Tue 28 July	—	10	46	heat
Wed 29 July	—	16	56	heat
Thu 30 July	3	44	72	heat
Fri 31 July	—	43	71	heat
Sat 1 August	—	39	53	heat
Sun 2 August	1	7	45	heat

Zones with a warning each day, at their highest level that day.

The zones

Zone	Province	Highest level	Warning days
Sol y Guadalhorce	Málaga	red	2
Bizkaia interior	Bizkaia	red	1
Bizkaia litoral	Bizkaia	red	1
Gipuzkoa litoral	Gipuzkoa	red	1
Campiña cordobesa	Córdoba	orange	8
Cuenca del Genil	Granada	orange	8
Valle del Guadalquivir de Jaén	Jaén	orange	8
Cazorla y Segura	Jaén	orange	8
La Mancha albaceteña	Albacete	orange	8
Morena y Condado	Jaén	orange	8
Sur, Vegas y Oeste	Madrid	orange	8
Valle del Tajo	Toledo	orange	8
La Mancha de Ciudad Real	Ciudad Real	orange	8
Metropolitana y Henares	Madrid	orange	8
Valle del Guadiana	Ciudad Real	orange	7
La Siberia extremeña	Badajoz	orange	6
Campiña sevillana	Sevilla	orange	8
Depresión central de Lleida	Lleida	orange	8
Guadix y Baza	Granada	orange	8
Hellín y Almansa	Albacete	orange	8
La Mancha conquense	Cuenca	orange	8
Ibiza y Formentera	Ibiza y Formentera	orange	7
Interior de Mallorca	Mallorca	orange	7
Menorca	Menorca	orange	7
Sur de Ávila	Ávila	orange	7
Tajo y Alagón	Cáceres	orange	7
Serranía de Cuenca	Cuenca	orange	8
La Mancha toledana	Toledo	orange	7
Norte de Cáceres	Cáceres	orange	7
Ribera del Ebro de Zaragoza	Zaragoza	orange	7
Sur de Mallorca	Mallorca	orange	7
Pirineo de Lleida	Lleida	orange	6
Sur de Salamanca	Salamanca	orange	6
Vegas del Guadiana	Badajoz	orange	6
Villuercas y Montánchez	Cáceres	orange	6
Bajo Aragón de Teruel	Teruel	orange	5
Norte y nordeste de Mallorca	Mallorca	orange	5
Cinco Villas de Zaragoza	Zaragoza	orange	4
Ribera del Ebro de La Rioja	La Rioja	orange	3
Ribera del Ebro de Navarra	Navarra	orange	3
Sierra de Madrid	Madrid	orange	8
Sierra de San Vicente	Toledo	orange	8
Subbética cordobesa	Córdoba	orange	8
Alcarria conquense	Cuenca	orange	7
Alcarria de Guadalajara	Guadalajara	orange	7
Altiplano de Murcia	Murcia	orange	7
Noroeste de Murcia	Murcia	orange	7
Sierras de Alcudia y Madrona	Ciudad Real	orange	7
Sur de Huesca	Huesca	orange	7
Andévalo y Condado	Huelva	orange	6
Barros y Serena	Badajoz	orange	6
Interior norte de Valencia	València/Valencia	orange	6
Interior sur de Valencia	València/Valencia	orange	5
Poniente y Almería Capital	Almería	orange	5
Sierra Tramontana	Mallorca	orange	5
Sierra sur de Sevilla	Sevilla	orange	5
Vega del Segura	Murcia	orange	5
Ampurdán	Girona	orange	4
Centro de Navarra	Navarra	orange	3
Ibérica zaragozana	Zaragoza	orange	3
Norte de Burgos	Burgos	orange	3
Pirineo navarro	Navarra	orange	3
Alcaraz y Segura	Albacete	orange	8
Capital y Montes de Jaén	Jaén	orange	8
Sierra y Pedroches	Córdoba	orange	8
Sierra norte de Sevilla	Sevilla	orange	7
Valle del Guadalentín, Lorca y Águilas	Murcia	orange	7
Montes de Toledo	Toledo	orange	6
Montes del norte y Anchuras	Ciudad Real	orange	6
Pirineo oscense	Huesca	orange	6
Antequera	Málaga	orange	5
Centro de Huesca	Huesca	orange	5
Depresión central de Tarragona	Tarragona	orange	5
Meseta de Salamanca	Salamanca	orange	5
Meseta de Valladolid	Valladolid	orange	5
Meseta de Zamora	Zamora	orange	5
Sur de Badajoz	Badajoz	orange	5
Aracena	Huelva	orange	4
Campiña gaditana	Cádiz	orange	4
Litoral de Huelva	Huelva	orange	4
Litoral sur de Alicante	Alacant/Alicante	orange	4
Meseta cacereña	Cáceres	orange	4
Valle del Almanzora y Los Vélez	Almería	orange	4
Cantabria del Ebro	Cantabria	orange	3
Condado de Treviño	Burgos	orange	3
Cordillera Cantábrica de Burgos	Burgos	orange	3
Interior de Alicante	Alacant/Alicante	orange	3
Llanada alavesa	Araba/Álava	orange	3
Rioja alavesa	Araba/Álava	orange	3
Ronda	Málaga	orange	3
Axarquía	Málaga	orange	2
Gipuzkoa interior	Gipuzkoa	orange	2
Litoral sur de Valencia	València/Valencia	orange	2
Nacimiento y Campo de Tabernas	Almería	orange	2
Vertiente cantábrica de Navarra	Navarra	orange	2
Centro y valle de Villaverde	Cantabria	orange	1
Cuenca del Nervión	Araba/Álava	orange	1
Litoral norte de Alicante	Alacant/Alicante	orange	1
Liébana	Cantabria	orange	1
Suroccidental asturiana	Asturias	orange	1

And 54 more zones with yellow warnings only.

What AEMET's stations measured

The most measured in the zones with an orange or red warning, on their warning days: a high of 45.0 °C at Álora (Sol y Guadalhorce) on 1 August.

Zone	Highest temperature
Sol y Guadalhorce	45.0 °C Álora · 1 August
Campiña sevillana	44.7 °C Écija · 26 July
Valle del Guadalentín, Lorca y Águilas	44.4 °C Lorca, Zarcilla de Ramos · 1 August
Campiña cordobesa	44.2 °C Montoro · 1 August
Interior sur de Valencia	43.8 °C Ontinyent · 1 August
Morena y Condado	43.8 °C Andújar · 26 July
Sierras de Alcudia y Madrona	43.7 °C Almadén · 26 July
Sierra norte de Sevilla	43.4 °C La Puebla de los Infantes · 1 August
Axarquía	43.3 °C Algarrobo · 2 August
Cuenca del Genil	43.3 °C Granada Aeropuerto · 26 July
Subbética cordobesa	43.1 °C Aguilar de la Frontera · 26 July
Gipuzkoa litoral	43.0 °C Donostia / San Sebastián Aeropuerto · 30 July
La Mancha albaceteña	43.0 °C Villarrobledo · 26 July
Vega del Segura	43.0 °C Archena · 1 August
Noroeste de Murcia	42.9 °C Calasparra · 1 August
Sur de Badajoz	42.9 °C Jerez de los Caballeros · 26 July
Andévalo y Condado	42.8 °C Villarrasa · 1 August
Cazorla y Segura	42.7 °C Villanueva del Arzobispo · 30 July
Valle del Almanzora y Los Vélez	42.7 °C Albox · 1 August
Valle del Guadalquivir de Jaén	42.6 °C Baeza · 26 July

And 80 more zones with an orange or red warning.

For each zone, the highest value its AEMET stations measured on the episode's warning days (the lowest, for the low temperature), with the station and the day. Rain from 07:00 to 07:00 UTC; gust: the day's strongest. It is what the zone's stations measured, not every town, and a measurement, like a warning, is not damage.

How AEMET's warnings unfolded

The red warning reached 4 zone-days, and AEMET always issued it ahead of time (median: 9 h). The first warning of any level for those same days had come a median 2 days earlier.

Zone	Day	First warning	Red issued	For · notice
Bizkaia interior	Thu 30	Mon 27 Jul, 23:50 orange	Tue 28 Jul, 11:33	14:00 · 50 h before
Bizkaia litoral	Thu 30	Mon 27 Jul, 23:50 orange	09:28	14:00 · 5 h before
Gipuzkoa litoral	Thu 30	Mon 27 Jul, 23:50 orange	09:28	14:00 · 5 h before
Sol y Guadalhorce	Sun 2	Thu 30 Jul, 23:50 yellow	Sat 1 Aug, 22:28	12:00 · 14 h before

The full timeline: 275 changes at orange or red

Only the changes involving red are listed: there were 275 in all.

Tue 28 July

11:33 Bizkaia interior: Raises the heat warning to red: Thursday 30, 14:00–21:00. Highs of 40 °C.

Thu 30 July

09:28 Bizkaia litoral, Gipuzkoa litoral: Raises the heat warning to red: Thursday 30, 14:00–21:00. Highs of 40 °C.

Sat 1 August

22:28 Sol y Guadalhorce: Raises the heat warning to red: Sunday 2, 12:00–21:00. Highs of 42 °C.

AEMET's issue times, in mainland Spain time (Canary Islands in island time). Notice is the time from issue to the first hour the warning covered; a warning issued “for the current hour” runs from the hour it is published.

What this says and what it doesn't

A warning is an AEMET forecast, not a measurement or a damage report: it says a threshold is expected to be exceeded in a zone. A warning is not damage; a zone is not a building.

A zone-day is one warning zone with a warning on one day. Ten zones at orange on the same day make ten zone-days. A day with several warnings in one zone counts once, at its highest level.

Each zone has its own thresholds, so an orange heat warning in Asturias doesn't mean the same temperature as in Córdoba. More in how warnings work.

To cite: “Climaviso, from AEMET warnings”.

Source: official AEMET warnings, collected by Climaviso since June 2018.

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